Everyone into the canoe for the Travers!

by Dave Litfin

"No vacancy" signs are up all over Saratoga Springs, and there's one on the starting gate for Saturday's Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, where a capacity crowd filled all 14 stalls at entry time for the meet's premier 3-year-old race.

There were 14 starters in the "Mid-Summer Derby" once before, when Jatski was put up via the disqualification of Run Dusty Run in 1977.

First won by William R. Travers' Kentucky in 1864, the Travers is annually a must-see spectacle because of its prestige and purse. But unlike last year when Triple Crown winner American Pharoah came to town with all the pomp and circumstance of a visiting dignitary, the 147th running is compelling in another way because a division title hangs in the balance.

"Totally different scene," agreed American Pharoah's Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who seemed like a shoo-in to win it until Keen Ice got up late at the Graveyard of Champions. "The race is coming up with the 3-year-old championship on the line. It's a huge deal."

Headed by Big Chief Racing's Preakness and Haskell Invitational winner Exaggerator and the 1-2 finishers in the Belmont Stakes - WinStar Farm & Bobby Flay's Creator and Twin Creeks Racing Stables & Eclipse Thoroughbred Partner's Destin - the diverse lineup includes three other Kentucky Derby starters, several graded stakes winners, and a handful of up-and-comers getting good at the right time. Notable among the late bloomers are Baffert's two California invaders, Gary and Mary West's American Freedom, and Juddmonte Farms' Arrogate.

Everyone has something to prove more or less, starting with pro-tem division leader and 3-1 morning-line choice Exaggerator, who first came to prominence winning last year's Grade 2 Saratoga Special for trainer Keith Desormeaux. Beginning with the Santa Anita Derby, all three of the Curlin colt's Grade 1 victories this year have been accomplished on sloppy tracks, and his runner-up effort in the Kentucky Derby was on a "fast" track that contained moisture from a late-afternoon squall.

"His success is not dependent on a sloppy track, but his success is dependent on a pace to run at," insisted Desormeax, who leaves the actual logistics in the saddle to his brother, Hall of Fame rider Kent Desormeaux, who was aboard 2009 Travers winner and 3-year-old champ Summer Bird.

Rain or shine, should Exaggerator become the eighth Preakness winner to prevail, he would cement his case to join 19 previous Travers winners named champion 3-year-old colt or gelding since the advent of year-end awards in 1936.

Among those standing in his way are Creator and Destin, separated by inches in the Belmont Stakes after 1 ½ miles, and Jump Sucker Stable's Governor Malibu, who was fourth after a troubled trip in the Test of the Champion. Governor Malibu turned the tables in the Grade 2 $600,000 Jim Dandy, but none of them could catch 27-1 shot Laoban, who wired the field for his first career victory and now tries to join 10 others who have completed a Jim Dandy-Travers double.

Guillot was hoping for an outside draw for Laoban, who drew post 13. "Yeah [the post] matters," said the ever-quotable Guillot, whose Moreno was second, beaten a nose at 31-1 by eventual 3-year-old champ Will Take Charge in the 2013 Travers. "I'm not sending him. It's not Moreno, it's Laoban. This horse doesn't have to have the lead."

If the stretch-running Creator returns to the form that also won him the Arkansas Derby, he would match Exaggerator as a three-time Grade 1 winner this season.

"The good news is that the Jim Dandy wasn't Creator's major target, but we were expecting it to be better," admitted newly minted Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, who is also looking for a rebound from Winchell Thoroughbred's three-time graded stakes winner Gun Runner, after that colt reaffirmed his distaste for off-going in the Haskell.

Trainer Todd Pletcher goes after a third Travers score with Destin, who turned heads winning the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis and the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby early in the year. He will once again be ridden by Javier Castellano, whose record fifth Travers with Keen Ice last year was his fourth win from the last six renewals.

"He's been training well," said Pletcher. "He's not a horse that touts himself a whole lot in the morning, but we feel like he's coming up to the race in good shape, and having a race over the track in the Jim Dandy is helpful."

After sharp workouts at Del Mar Sunday and Monday, Baffert green-lighted a cross-country plane ride for his "A team" of American Freedom and Arrogate, who were yearling purchases out of the same sale for $500,000 and $560,000 respectively. Arrogate drew the rail and gets a switch to Hall of Famer Mike Smith. American Freedom is alongside in post 2 and retains Rafael Bejarano, who has ridden both recently.

American Freedom (blinkers off) has run at different tracks in each of his five starts, capped by a win in the Grade 3 Iowa Derby and a gritty second in the Haskell despite trouble. He is third choice at 6-1.

"He's a horse that has been coming along, he showed in the Haskell he can run with the big boys," said Baffert, whose only Travers winner from six tries remains Point Given, the 2001 Horse of the Year. "He got involved in a fast pace early and really hung in there despite losing some momentum in the stretch. He doesn't need the blinkers anymore."

Arrogate has been odds-on in his four previous starts, but is pegged at 10-1 as he makes his stakes debut after three straight wins.

"He's done everything well," said Baffert. "He's been in small fields, so this will be a big step up, and the break will be really important. But he has some speed and acts like a true mile-and-a-quarter horse."

Chad Brown has opened a comfortable lead in quest of his first Saratoga training title. The native of nearby Mechanicville sends out three Travers hopefuls in Paul Pompa Jr.'s Connect, William S. Farish's Gift Box, and Sheep Pond Partners' My Man Sam.

Connect, who wired the Curlin Stakes with Gift Box chasing him home second, will try to emulate V.E. Day, who pulled off a Curlin-Travers double at 19-1 two years ago. Connect is the 4-1 second choice on the line and breaks from post 10, while Gift Box is 12-1 from post 9.

My Man Sam, a fast-closing second in the Blue Grass, was freshened after a rough trip in the Kentucky Derby. He returned here opening weekend to run a close second against the older Tale of Verve, last year's Preakness runner-up who is eyeing next week's Grade 1 Woodward Stakes. He drew post 3.

"We're happy with all the posts," said Brown. "It's a wide open race...just happy to have three chances in there. They're training well, they should all be in different positions early and it should be fun to watch. This is the biggest race in the world for me, and it's a life-long dream of mine to win it."

Gustavo Delgado got his first U.S. Grade 1 win with 55-1 Paola Queen in the recent Test Stakes, and the Venezuelan-born conditioner looks to capture lightning in a bottle once more with Grupo Seven C Stable's Florida Derby runner-up Majesto, who adds blinkers and picks up Ricardo Santana Jr. after a wide trip in the Curlin.

"Big field, 14 horses, anything can happen," he reasoned.

Charles E. Fipke's Forever d'Oro, a son of 2002 Travers winner Medaglia d'Oro, looks to follow up on a third-place finish in the Curlin that was his best effort to date for Dallas Stewart.

Rounding out the field is Anaximandros, owned and trainer by Mikhail Yanakov, who was fourth in the West Virginia Derby in his first stakes attempt.

The Travers is the zenith of a star-studded card that features five other Grade 1s - the $1 million Longines Sword Dancer, the $750,000 Personal Ensign, the $500,000 Ballerina, the $500,000 Ketel One King's Bishop, and the $700,000 Priority One Jets Forego. As well, the undefeated Lady Eli is scheduled to make her long-awaited return in the Grade 2, $400,000 Woodford Reserve Ballston Spa.

The Travers is race 11 on a 13-race program. It anchors a $250,000 guaranteed pick six, and a $1 million guaranteed pick four. Post time is 5:44 p.m. EST with live television coverage on NBC from 4:30-6:00 Eastern.